PSA- New FCC rule could help those who get caught with overcharges

[TheForce]

FCC weighs bill shock rule
5:01p ET October 14, 2010 (MarketWatch)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Mobile carriers would have to alert consumers before they face overcharges on their phone bills under new rules the Federal Communications Commission considered on Thursday.

The proposed rule would require mobile service providers to inform users about the overcharges of voice, text and data usage or international roaming fees that are not covered in their monthly plans.

Some cellphone carriers such as At&t already have the ability for consumers to set up a usage cap. But because most of the users are not aware of the options available to them, the FCC has asked the companies to disclose such tools in a more overt way.

"Bill shock has been a significant issue for some time and the industries have not been responding," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Simple technologies can solve the problem "easily and inexpensively," Genachowski said.

Nearly 30 million or 17% of American cellphone users have experienced sudden increases in their bills, even when they had not changed their plans, according to an FCC report released on Wednesday.

The report showed that 764 people complained to the FCC about wireless bill shock in the first six months of this year, and 67% of those complained about amounts of $100 or more. Twenty percent had complaints of $1,000 or more.

Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, introduced cellphone shock legislation last month that would shut off services when the users reach their monthly limits unless they volunteer to pay additional fees.

Service providers have expressed concern at the idea of new rules.

"We agree with the FCC that the goal is to keep all customers happy," said Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president, regulatory affairs for CTIA, the international organization representing the wireless communications industry. "But we are concerned that prescriptive and costly rules that limit the creative offerings and competitive nature of the industry may threaten to offset these positive trends."

The FCC also urged mobile service providers to expand wireless coverage to rural areas that currently lack the access by using the Mobility Fund. The fund was part of the commission's national broadband plan proposed this March with a goal of connecting the 100 million users who don't have the broadband access by 2020.

Four wireless phone service carriers, AT&T, Sprint , the T-Mobile unit of Deutsche Telekom and the Verizon Wireless venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group , serve more than 85% of U.S. wireless subscribers, according a Government Accountability Office's report from Nov. 2009.

 

[mike123abc]

Quite frankly you should be able to set a dollar limit on your cell bill and it cannot exceed that limit in a month. If you hit the limit, 911 and calls to your carrier would be allowed for emergency and of course finding out why you hit your $ limit.

I know the carriers do not want this since they are afraid it might limit some spur of the moment spending or something. Also, they would have to have better billing to figure out that you hit your limit, especially when roaming. But, if they were stuck with any billing that went over your limit (i.e. your limit was $150, yet you roamed data for $2000) they would quickly fix the problem.

 

[TheForce]

mike- I thought AT&T did have that optional limit but you had to request it be set up.

 

[digiblur]

Don't see how this works with roaming involved...sometimes it takes several days for even domestic roaming usage to show up.

 

[mike123abc]

Don't see how this works with roaming involved...sometimes it takes several days for even domestic roaming usage to show up.

That is the point of my original post. If the carriers were responsible for overages they would solve the roaming problem instantely. There is no reason for all this delayed billing.